


The Fires Are Lit

by dralexreid



Series: Dr Piper Bishop [41]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, california fires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27097120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dralexreid/pseuds/dralexreid
Summary: so I started writing this after all the fires in California and the images of San Francisco hitting a little close to home. with piper canonically being from San Francisco, I thought it only natural but please don't read if you find it triggering.Piper sees her hometown on fire, walking out on the BAU to get there to help the neighbourhood she grew up in. Meanwhile, the BAU has to deal with a serial vampirist in L.A.
Relationships: Dr Spencer Reid/Dr Piper Bishop
Series: Dr Piper Bishop [41]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972852
Kudos: 15





	The Fires Are Lit

Piper rubbed a towel through her hair, walking into the lounge to turn the news on. She yawned, padding over to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea while the shower pounded in the bathroom. Spencer was finally back on his feet and he’d never been happier. Especially after their book haul yesterday. Piper smiled as she twirled a spoon through the tea before dispensing the spoon in the sink. She turned around towards the tv, blinking sleepily as she narrowed her eyes to the fiery screen. Recognition flashed in her eyes at the deep red sky and flames lapping at houses and fumbled her grip on the cup of tea as Spencer’s brows furrowed from outside the bathroom. She barely paid attention to him, tears welling in her eyes at the blood-orange smoke blanketing her home. Spencer yelled out as Piper almost placed a foot on broken ceramic. She stayed frozen, eyes glued to the screen as Spencer cleared the floor, murmuring that he’d make another cup of tea. She was crying now, silently as the tears broke through the floodgates and he wrapped his arms around her. They stood like that for a minute, her sobbing into his shoulder, him stroking a hand over her hair.

She couldn’t get the image of fire out of her head, even as the others celebrated Spencer’s recovery. Piper was tired as her phone kept buzzing, as though each message sapped at her tolerance. She was tapped out of tears and instead tapped her pen on the table until the final headline rolled on her phone screen.

“Democrats blame California fires on climate change as Trump calls for stronger forest management.”

She’d had enough. Instead of explaining, she stood up abruptly, grabbing her go-bag, about to storm through the celebration straight to Hotch’s office. Derek’s voice stung, pinning her to her place. “We have a case today, Bishop. Where are you going?”

Piper looked straight into Derek’s eyes. “I’m going home.”

“Look, Pipes, we get it,” JJ tried soothingly. “Watching this stuff is hard but—”

“Do you? Do any of you?” Piper tried not to scream at her friends. “What if it was Chicago, huh, Derek? Or Pennsylvania, JJ?” Her vision blurred as her eyes filled with tears. “My home is on fire, and God help me, I will put it out.” She sniffled before shouldering past them and up to Hotch’s office. But he came out first with a set of keys.

“Let’s go.”

The drive to the airport was silent. Piper stared out the window into the bright blue sky, her mind flashing back to the smoky red flooding over her own sky. The car pulled over and Hotch watched as she left. “Bishop.” Piper looked back with a raised eyebrow. “Stay safe.” Piper smiled softly before kissing him on the cheek.

“Take care of yourself, boss,” she whispered, then pulled her bag out to head for California.

^-^

It was almost ironic, Spencer scoffed. Her girlfriend’s hometown was aflame, and they were headed out to the same state only a few hours after her. Part of him had no heart in the case at hand, but another part couldn’t help the intrigue behind clinical vampirism. Garcia had still mailed the case files to Piper in case she could still lend a perspective. A series of murders had been reported in Los Angeles, a third victim in less than 2 weeks. Not even fire could deter serial killers, it seemed. They’d been left on freeway off-ramps by commuters. The last one, Tara, had a message etched on her arm in blood, The Liar. All of the victims appeared to have been strangled, then bled out through identical wounds in the throat. Emily had scoffed at the fang marks, about to turn to Piper when they’d been discussing the case, only to remember she wasn’t there. The mood was thick with a distinct absence, without a distinct smile, even as JJ tried to lighten it by teasing Spencer about a certain ex-love in California. He remembered how Piper refused to watch Dracula with him but was perfectly fine reading about it.

“Human blood consumption, or clinical vampirism, is known as Renfield's syndrome,” Spencer recalled, almost fondly from her lit-up explanations. “It’s named after the insect-eating character in Bram Stoker's novel ‘Dracula’. It’s usually accompanied by varying levels of schizophrenia and occasionally more classic cannibalism if the condition evolves.”

“Classic cannibalism,” Rossi joked weakly. Even his saltiness had melted with her absence. “Lovely job we have.”

 _“Renfield's may be rare, but vampires are anything but. And there's a huge subculture in Los Angeles of the red-drinking undead,”_ Garcia announced before propping up pictures of various vampire fanatics. Penelope returned to the screen

“Garcia, all these people drink blood?”

 _“Au contraire, my sweets,”_ Penelope smirked. _“They mostly just dress up like Prentiss did in high school and they make-believe. It's all kinds of delicious.”_ Her icon on the screen slid into a split view as a tired Piper came into view.

“ _Sorry, I’m a little late.”_ Piper’s hotel room looked rosy, but the team couldn’t help noticing her ashen face. _“Just got back to the hotel. I assume Reid’s already told you the basics of Renfield’s so I’ll tell you what I do know about the subculture in the little time I’ve got. I’d refer to this unsub as a vampirist, not a vampire. And they’d be attracted to the subculture merely for its professed worship of blood.”_

 _“Ok, I'm going to continue spelunking through the various online sites,”_ Penelope added. _“See if anything jumps up and bites me,”_ Piper smirked a little before continuing.

“ _I’d keep a lookout for any events around in L.A., not that there’d be many, that celebrate that subculture. Try movie theatres, concerts…”_

“Hold up, concerts?” JJ looked confused. “What about the fires?”

“ _Mostly they’re all relief aid concerts right now mainly because they’re hard to reschedule. It’s easier to rebrand them as Live-Aid or some other form._ _Besides, they’ve kept them on the outskirts of the major fire zones.”_

“Anything else, angel?” Derek called softly, apologetic for his words in the morning. Piper nodded subtly to him forgivingly and Morgan almost missed it. Almost.

“ _Well, I don’t know how popular they are in L.A. with their vapid media consumption, and yes, I am referring to the Kardashians, but you could try influential book clubs. Young adult is gaining some serious popularity, but I’ve heard the Goth book circles are limited. Should be easy to narrow down.”_

“Okay, stay safe Bishop. And check back in when you can.” Piper saluted to her team, then frowned almost cringing at herself before blipping out.

She closed the laptop screen, gazing out at the build-up of smoke blocking her bridge. The bridge she’d spent hours gazing at with her mom. She grabbed her jacket and started down the stairs to her old bike. As her knuckles gripped the handles, she remembered the day she’d passed it on to Daniel after she’d graduated. The memory unfolded as she drove down a familiar road under a threatening sky to the nearest shelter. “Hi, I’m Dr Bishop. I called about your volunteer services.” The elderly lady grinned and with a march much too strident for her age, led Piper to a little office fitted out with a couch and armchair. While Piper got to work with trauma victims, the team got settled in at the precinct, with barely anyone in the office itself.

“With the fires, my department’s got to take care of any looting, rioting and rescues so we’ve got limited manpower. We already have a room set up full of glass boards, case files, and extremely bad coffee,” Detective Kim joked as he got them settled in.

“We’ve worked with less. Go ahead and concentrate on the fires and the people. We’ll contact you once we have a profile ready,” Derek reassured the detective before delegating roles to his team. He got JJ to set up, then hook up with Garcia to cross-reference the victims. He got Reid and Rossi working through case files and work a preliminary profile.

As night fell, Piper locked up the office, saying quick goodbyes to the volunteers as they started handing out dinner. As she exited into the warm, humid air, Piper gazed longingly at the bridge, barely visible in the smog. She checked her wristwatch. If she left now, she could make it to L.A by midnight.

Spencer peeled off his cardigan as he stared into the smoky sunset when he heard a slow knock on the door. Abandoning the pile of files on his desk, he walked over, unholstering his gun. The door didn’t have a peephole and he looked through to see a familiar face hefting a large go-bag. Hastily, he opened the door, letting Piper stumble in. “How long did you drive?”

“5 hours,” she grumbled. “All for a stupid vampire case.” Spencer almost chuckled if not for her war-weary face and the coughing fit she had before gulping down half a bottle of water.

“How bad is it?”

“I couldn’t breathe there, Spence.” She collapsed onto the bed, closing her eyes as she pictured her town. “You know, you used to be able to see the bridge, no matter where you were in the city. Just golden structures towering in spirals, almost touching the sky. You can’t even see it anymore.” A tear rolled a clean path down her ashy face. Spencer took a seat next to her, rubbing circles into her hand. Piper took a deep breath, laying her head in the crook of his shoulder. They stayed like that for a minute before Piper asked quietly if she could take a shower. She disappeared inside with her go-bag. Spencer’s eyes flickered closed as he curled up in bed. Piper closed the door behind her, smiling at him softly sleeping before grabbing her phone, going through her old contact list. About an hour later, Spencer shifted, blinking slowly at Piper going through files still on her phone. "Yeah, anything culturally Goth...uh-huh...Right, think vampires, Twilight, stuff like that...Oh don't ask me, I couldn't care less about Jacob or Edward..."

"Pipes..." he groaned softly.

"Sorry, Sadie. I gotta go...Yeah, listen, take care of yourself okay? Bye." Her phone clattered on the table as she rubbed her face. "I have talked to every contact in media, communications, journalism, anyone with an ounce of knowledge of vampire culture but all anyone can talk about is Twilight." Spencer got up, taking the seat next to her.

"You know, no-one would say anything if you took a couple of days off." He blinked at her, his voice slurring softly with sleep. In his drowsy state, he tried to kiss her, only to bump foreheads. "This isn't working, is it?" Piper giggled softly, pulling her hand up to his cheek and kissing him softly, pulling slowly at his bottom lip and pulling away. "Come to bed," he pleaded softly and she obliged, taking his hand with a soft laugh. 


End file.
